BUFFALO MILK MOZZARELLA

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, or Buffalo Mozzarella, is the traditional Italian mozzarella. It is made from the milk of water buffaloes and comes from the Campania region in southern Italy. The cheese has a specific curdling, spinning and pickling process to meet the standards set by the European Union.

A total of 128 farms belong to the mozzarella consortium, with the sector generating a turnover of £250 million a year and employing 20,000 workers.

The plains of Campania, around Naples, are home to large buffalo herds which produce 33,000 tonnes of mozzarella each year; though due to the requirement for mozerella to be freshly made little of this is exported.

Since water buffalo are herded in only a few countries, primarily Italy and Bulgaria, fresh mozzarella is now mainly made from cow's milk outside of Campania.

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana has received a poor press in the past few years due to a series of crisis:

In early 2008 the production of mozzarella was under threat from a Brucellosis infection which spread through the herds of water buffalo. This required the Italian government to slaughter 32,000 buffalo, infected with Brucellosis.

It was thought that Brucellosis has been present in the herd for 10 years but local vets who are supposed to test and put down infected animals have been intimidated by the local mafia - the Camorra - who also control some of the farms. Consequently the disease was allowed to spread to almost 30% of the herd.

Later, in March 2008, the Italian government had to recall Mozzarella di Bufala from sale due to dioxin contamination. The affected buffalo mozzarella cheese came from 25 producers in the Campania region. It is believed the cause was toxic waste, illegally dumped by criminals on agricultural land used for pasture.

Then in April 2009 inspectors found that some buffalo in the Caserta area near Naples had been given somatropine, a human growth hormone, although officials said this did not pose a health risk.

Then proof that fresh mozzarella made with cows milk is equally as good as Mozzarella di Bufala when in January 2010 when it was found that even in Campania  as a quarter of cheese sold as mozzarella contains cow's rather than buffalo's milk.

The consortium of producers which guarantee buffalo mozzarella quality was even forced to disband after it was shown that even mozzarella produced by their President, had been produced using cow's milk.